What do you think of That !!!!...

My first Felted Garment !....hand crafted by little old me !

Its marvellous what you can do, when you have a go !

I have been like a little girl this afternoon, reading my new Felting Book....and thus inspired me to have a go !!

So I couldn't wait...I got all the bits 'n' pieces I needed and set to. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience, it reminded me of my school days as a little girl.

I have been inspired to create a master piece !!.....my first felted garment, well ok its a small garment but still something to wear. A felt scarf. This is a blend of Trienza (Dark Fawn)Tremona (Light Fawn) and Zakhura (Black).

I am so excited I couldn't even wait for the scarf to dry before I took it out into the garden for the photo shoot....

So what do you think of that, I'm chuffed to bits with the result, especially as it was my first attempt.....there's no stopping me now....Yipee !!!

Visitors from Far and Wide !

I was visited on Wednesday by a lovely lady called Irma, who found us on the Internet. She is originally from Holland but now lives in Aberdeen.

She is currently studying for her 4th year BA Hons degree in Textile and Surface Design at Aberdeen University. To cut a very long story sort, Irma was interested in alpaca fibre for her project, she is hoping to create something either in wall art, sculpting or weaving.

So needless to say, Irma was fascinated with the alpacas, and their fabulous fleece. She had with her a scrumptious Vanilla and Poppy seed cake, so this was enjoyed with a cup of tea ! ..home made of course.

How time flies when you are having fun, we talked crafting, spinning, knitting design and so on !!....and something which I have never done, felting !!...I have often wondered how you do it.

Irma left with bags of fleece to create something I'm sure will be fantastic .... and then I received a lovely gift in the post. A fantastic Felting Book and felting items to get me started courtesy of Irma.

Needless to say I have been inspired, by this lovely gift....I can feel a bit of felting coming on !!

Watch this space. I hope this is the start of a lovely friendship and I can't wait to see what Irma will design and create with the alpaca fleece.

A Little Bit of Light Reading ......

Marquette in foreground.....

Trienza in foreground ......

Hat and scarf created with a blend of Marquette and Trienza ! In the evening sun..

Firstly I must say this is just a little bit of light reading, after the terrible news lately that Coire Alpacas have experienced. This year seems to have been a really difficult one and its times like this when you really question as to 'why' you bother at all.

My thoughts are with you at this very testing time ....hang on to your alpaca dreams... !!

We have all experienced the 'highs and the lows' of alpaca owner-ship. Sadly these lows are happening a bit too often for my liking. I hope that things turn the corner for all intended. But when times are tough, it can be a up-hill struggle.

With this in mind I have very mixed emotions with the pending births of my girls, I am excited that we are hopefully into the last stages of their pregnancies, but I must admit to being a bit apprehensive, we all know what can happen and whats at stake when things go wrong. I hope that these babies all arrive safe and sound, however things can still go seriously wrong.

I have been doing a bit of knitting. So i thought I'd take the opportunity as it was a beautiful night to take a couple of pictures.

This little hat and scarf set was knitted using Marquette and Trienza fleece, blended together. I have even managed to follow a pattern of sorts. I have added my own little touch with a few flower additions.

I am very pleased with the way that it has turned out. I must admit I do like to knit things that take shape quickly. I started knitting this Sunday afternoon, finished the hat on the evening and then went on to knit the scarf. I have finished it off today with the flowers and the tassells. That's my sort of knitting !!

All quiet here !

I have noticed a lack of blogging by me over the past few weeks. I must confess to not having much to report about, although time is ticking by nicely. The ladies are starting to look decidedly rotund, as we have just passed the one month to go marker. Many regular readers will remember that my crias are all due around the 17th September, all being well.

My parents were visiting last week and we managed to get most of the jobs on the wish list sorted.

I have noticed a definite Autumnal feel to the nights, also that we are starting to get a little darker sooner, its now around 9pm ish, a couple of weeks ago it was around 10pm ish. So it looks like the seasons are starting to change.

We still have a couple of pairs of Swallows feeding their second clutches of babies, its hard to believe that in less than a matter of a month or so, these little marvels will be preparing to leave us for the winter.

I am always a little sad when the swallows leave, usually in September, last year they left on the 13th, they all lined up on the telephone wires and there were a sight to be seen. I wished them all a safe journey and good luck for their flight.

The only nice thing when the Swallows leave is I then look forward to seeing the Canada Geese coming over to visit for the winter. It is a marvellous sight to behold when you see them flying in their 'V ' format. I usually hear them long before I manage to see them in the sky.

As we are late this year with our cria arrivals. I have decided not to re-mate the girls this year, as I want to change their breeding months to spring. So we will hopefully move the breeding dates to sometime around May. I hope to then have spring-time babies, in future.

Another Wrap !!...& New Model..

I thought that I would take the opportunity to use my Mam as a model for my latest Luxury Alpaca Wrap.

Its gets a bit repetitive all the time with only one model, (me). Anyway people might thing that I am appearing a bit too often on the blog !

So just before they went back home I got my Mam to do a bit of modelling in the garden, this wrap was created using Zanubis's fleece (Grey) blended with Tremona (Light Fawn). I am always amazed just how different the fleece looks when it is spun into yarn. Sometimes it is a totally different colour to what it looks like in the raw state.

I just love the different colours and shades that you can create with this type of effect. This wrap looks much like a 'Tweed' style or even a 'Humbug' colour. Although the camera has diluted the colour a little.

This was just a little trial project that I wanted to do, just to see what the completed garment would look like, I think that I will be having a little rest from the spinning, although I must confess I do like to spin. I find it quite therapeutic.

A Little Treat !!......

I must apologise as it has been over two weeks since I have been on the blog ~!

Just for all those avid readers, we have been very busy, with loads of jobs, last week was spent bringing all of our hay into the barns for the winter, this took a couple of days work with the tractor, we brought in 66 round bales, in total. This should see us through the winter months ahead.

I have had my parents visiting for a week, thankfully the weather has been quite nice so we managed to do a few outside jobs.

I have also treated myself to a new house sign as a little treat for my show success !!

We have been getting quite alot of visitors by mistake as there are two properties who share our track.......so hopefully there should be no confusion now the new sign is here.

The alpaca girls are now over day 300 in their pregnancies, so we still have quite a wait, although I think that all are showing signs of being pregnant, however I'm not sure about Aymara, she lost her cria last year and we will just have to wait and see. The girls are all due around the 17th September, but hopefully the babies will arrive in due course.